Hearing Puts Redistricting On Hot Seat

Parents Question Plan To Transfer Students

Parents from around the city peppered school officials Wednesday with questions about a massive plan to redistrict the elementary schools -- a proposal that could affect 5,000 to 6,000 students.

Cherille Howard, president of the Magnet Middle School PTO at the Learning Corridor, brought 200 signed letters with her urging administrators to move quickly to create an alternate high school for their youngsters. Until this week, administrators had planned to convert South Middle School into a high school that would be attractive to Learning Corridor middle school students, but they changed their minds Monday, deciding instead to drop sixth grade from South and convert it to a grade 7-8 school.

Assistant Superintendent Marie Salazar Glowski said the district is working to develop new high school options, including exploring an idea to build a high school with the University of Hartford as a partner. Superintendent Anthony Amato did not attend Wednesday's hearing because of a prior commitment. He did not attend the first of three hearings for parents on Tuesday either.

West End residents complained about transferring parts of Noah Webster's district into two other districts under the proposal. ``The West End Civic Association will not tolerate our community being divided up,'' said association member Tracy Gale.

Bob McNair, another West Ender, said he was worried about West End property values declining as a result of moving some streets into the West Middle Elementary School district. ``You took a little piece of the West End community and sliced it out of there. As a property owner, it has meaning,'' he said.

Glowski said she will study the concerns and try to address them.

Bulkeley High School PTO President Donald Romanik complained that the proposal would not alleviate crowding at Bulkeley -- a school so heavily enrolled that it had to add an afternoon session to accommodate students this year.

Romanik also criticized trustees for waiting until the last vote of their more than five-year tenure to make a decision on such a controversial and important subject. On Dec. 3, a board made up of four elected and three appointed members will replace the trustees as control is transferred from the state back to the city.

``The maps keep changing. Parents don't have all the information. The trustees may not have accurate information until they vote on it,'' he said. ``Now you're dealing with the most volatile political issue in the waning hours of this appointed board. This may be undone by the elected board.''

``I am not blaming you,'' he told Glowski. ``I'm blaming the superintendent and the trustees.''

The proposed map showing new boundaries was not ready for the presentation to trustees last week. Glowski did not see the map, which was drawn with the assistance of a computer and census data, until just minutes before her first presentation to parents Tuesday night.

It appears that no school borders would remain the same -- even in the city's North End, where schools are not filled to capacity.

Elizabeth Brad Noel, a school board candidate who has been tracking the redistricting committee's progress, asked Glowski on Tuesday why a school such as Clark Elementary, which is not crowded, would have its borders changed to take in some students while transferring out others.

Glowski said that borders were moved to ``equalize'' enrollment.

Tuesday, it was proposed that Milner School would feed its students into Quirk rather than Fox Middle School, then on to Weaver. Wednesday, a new document showed Milner feeding into Fox.

The change to the Barnard-Brown School district is one of the most dramatic. Its proposed borders would cut into six existing districts to create a sprawling district that stretches as far south as the Learning Corridor near Trinity College. It would feed into Quirk and then Hartford Public High School, meaning that students who live in the southern part of its district, walking distance from Bulkeley, would travel across the city to the West End for high school.

Students in the proposed Kinsella School district, who could live across the street from Bulkeley, or quite a distance south of it, would also be channeled into Quirk and Hartford Public.

Some typographical errors in the district's proposed map and a handout seem to reflect the haste with which the documents were prepared.

For example, a handout states that Noah Webster School, which aims to add an eighth grade, would feed into Bulkeley rather than nearby Hartford Public. By Wednesday, news of the possible switch to Bulkeley had spread through the West End and parents showed up at the hearing to object to it.

But Glowski assured the group that Webster will continue to feed into Hartford Public.

Also, the map shows that part of Simpson-Waverly School's district will transfer to Wish School. Spokeswoman Andrea Comer has said she believes the map will be corrected to show no change in Simpson-Waverly.

The map is a draft proposal that may change before going to trustees for approval, which is expected on Nov. 6.

Administrators will present the plan to parents for a final time at Sand School on Tuesday at 5.